The Malazan Empire Series: (Night of Knives, Return of the Crimson Guard, Stonewielder, Orb Sceptre Throne, Blood and Bone, Assail) (Novels of the Malazan Empire)

by Ian C. Esslemont

  And because of all this the man’s rule was tolerated, even if he was a pompous ass.

  Today Yusek was ‘scouting’. Which consisted of crouching under the cover of a tall evergreen watching the rain misting down the mountainside. The Mengal mountains were tall enough to gather clouds to themselves, but here they were not tall enough to completely shadow the leeward slopes, and deep valleys cut through to the coast. As a result, a portion of the mist always reached inland – not that any ever touched the Dwelling Plain.

  She was keeping an eye on the trader track where it came winding up from the south. And this day, sure enough with the damned cold rain and all, there came two figures tramping through the mud, stepping over the trunks of fallen trees, pushing through the channels of run-off that charged across the path.

  Damned fools. Out in this weather. Now she had to get soaked too!

  She went down to meet them.

  They were a couple of the sorriest travellers she’d ever seen. Carried no goods or packs as far as she could make out; they wore big loose hooded cloaks pulled close against the rain. At least they were armed, as she could see the polished bronze heels of sheaths hanging down beneath their cloaks.

  As she stepped out on to the track they stopped and exchanged looks with each other from under their deep hoods. ‘Where you headed?’ she asked.

  One stepped forward. ‘North,’ he said in a strange accent.

  ‘I’m with a settlement just—’

  ‘Do you know of a monastery here in these mountains?’ the fellow demanded, cutting her off.

  ‘A what? Monastery? No. Like I said, I’m with—’

  But the two had walked on right past her. She watched them go, dumbfounded. What in the name of Mowri …

  She caught up with them. ‘Listen. There’s a settlement near here. Orbern-town.’ Stupid damned name. Orbern-town! Damned ass. Ha! Ass-town!

  The two stopped. Even this close Yusek couldn’t see into the deep hoods. One spoke again, the same one as before – the other had yet to say anything at all. ‘There are people there who would know these mountains well?’ he asked.

  Yusek wiped the cold mist from her face, shrugged. ‘Yeah. Sure. You bet.’

  ‘Very well. You may lead us there.’

  She snorted, waved for them to follow. Listen to that! ‘You may lead us there …’ Who do these two think they are?

  Yusek wouldn’t have denied she’d grown up in the middle of nowhere and knew next to nothing, but even she would’ve run off when the sharpened logs of the palisade hove into view. She especially would’ve panicked when the heavy log door was pushed shut behind them and the great cross-piece was set into place and all the hairy unwashed mountain men of Orbern’s crew came shambling out to see what was up.

  But not these two. They followed her right in, meek as lambs to the axe. Some people, she reflected, didn’t have the sense to be allowed to live.

  She led them straight up to the main log ‘Hall’ as Orbern called it, pushed open the door. The two followed her in. A bunch of the crew pushed in behind.

  Orbern was eating; he spent a lot of time doing that, hanging around the table. Yusek guessed this was his way of playing ‘Lord of the manor’. He looked up, surprised, set down his knife and wiped his hands on the layered robes he wore to demonstrate his ‘Office’. He had a great head of straggly hair and beard that Yusek figured he cultivated, again as part of his image as some kind of great master of the wilderness, like those of the ex-free cities of the north.

  ‘And who do we have here?’ he asked, all arch and loud.

  ‘Travellers, sir,’ she answered, addressing him, as he kept telling them to.

  Orbern pulled on his beard, nodding. ‘Excellent! Greetings, sirs! Welcome to Orbern-town – such as it is at this time. Admittedly no Mengal yet. But we are growing. Soon we hope to become a regular waystop on the trader road. What may we do for you? Beds for the night, perhaps?’

  Some of the boys behind the travellers chuckled at that. The two didn’t even turn round.

  ‘Do you know of a monastery in these mountains, north of here?’

  Orbern made a great show of stroking his beard and studying the cross-beams above. ‘A monastery, you say? Are you on a devotional pilgrimage? Are they expecting you?’

  ‘If none here knows it then we will move on.’

  A lot more of the men laughed at that. Yusek couldn’t hide her disbelief. How dense can you be?

  Orbern merely raised a hand for silence. ‘There’s no hurry. Perhaps we do know of such a place. Perhaps—’

  ‘Do you know?’ the traveller asked, interrupting.

  Orbern was thrown for a moment but recovered smoothly. ‘I? No. But for a contribution to Orbern-town’s—’

  ‘Then who?’

  Orbern glared from beneath his tangled brows. Yusek laughed, and none too gently. Now this was funny … this was a good show. ‘A contribution to Orbern-town’s future will gain you our good will,’ Orbern ground out sounding far from friendly.

  As if by way of answer, the spokesman of the two pushed back his heavy hood.

  Yusek heard gasps of hissed breaths. Almost as one the crowd of outlaws and murderers, hunted men all, flinched several steps backwards, clearing a circle round the two. She stared surprised: the man wore a mask, a painted oval, all complex swirls and bands. Oddest thing, she thought. Then she glanced to Orbern.

  The man was frozen, eyes huge. He appeared to be struggling to take a breath to speak but failing. Yusek made a disgusted face. What’s this? So the fellow’s wearing a mask? So what?

  No one moved or spoke; it was as if all were too terrified. A few like Yusek were peering about, confused; mostly men from the north. Since no one was saying anything she stepped forward, hands on the knives at her belt. ‘Hand over everything you have,’ she demanded.

  A strangled high-pitched laugh burst from Orbern. He waved his hands frantically. ‘Don’t listen to her!’ he spluttered, almost squeaking. ‘You are free to go, of course!’

  ‘What’s this?’ called out Waynar, a great hairy fellow from the north who claimed Barghast blood. He uncrossed his thick arms and stepped forward. ‘Free to go?’

  ‘Would you shut up!’ Orbern snarled at him, then offered the two guests a nervous laugh.

  ‘You ain’t our king or anything,’ Waynar countered. He loomed up so close to the visitors that his out-thrust chin almost touched the masked forehead of the much shorter and slighter of the two. ‘Who in Hood’re you? An’ why’re you wearin’ that stupid mask?’

  Damned straight! Yusek added silently. ’Bout time someone took charge. Looks like Orbern might be on the outs.

  The spokesman tilted his head to peer past Waynar’s shaggy bulk. ‘Is this one in defiance of your orders?’

  Orbern’s shoulders fell. He clasped his head in his hands and let out a long shuddering breath. ‘I am very sorry, Waynar,’ he said. ‘But … yes. He is.’

  The spokesman shrugged. Or appeared to shrug. Something happened. Yusek wasn’t sure; she didn’t quite catch it. His cloak moved, anyway. Waynar’s eyes bulged. His mouth opened but nothing came out. Then a great torrent of blood and fluids came gushing down from the man’s waist, down over his legs, splattering amid falling wet glistening coils and viscera. The man almost split in half.

  Yusek screamed, jumping backwards. Even the strangers stepped away from the spreading pool of gore.

  Some went for their swords but others in the crowd stopped them, grabbing their arms. Orbern threw up his hands for calm. ‘Do not move!’ he called. To the travellers he offered a small bow of his head. ‘There will be no further challenges. Your demonstration is most … pointed. North of here you will find a handful of small settlements, homesteads and such. And I have heard rumours of a temple of some sort.’

  ‘Who knows this region best?’ the spokesman asked, his voice still mild and uninflected.

  Orbern’s brows drew down once more. ‘Well, Yusek here has covered most
of the slopes.’

  Yusek tore her gaze from the pile of viscera and saw that the spokesman stranger was now regarding her through his painted mask. His eyes were hazel brown.

  ‘What?’ she snapped.

  ‘You will guide us.’

  ‘Sure as the bony finger of the Taker I will not.’

  The spokesman turned away. ‘It is decided. We require food and water.’

  Orbern exhaled his relief. ‘Shel-ken, find them some supplies.’

  ‘No! It is not decided!’ Yusek snarled. She glared at Orbern. ‘I won’t go with these murderers!’

  ‘Is this one also defying the hierarchy?’ the spokesman asked of Orbern.

  Yusek backed up until her shoulder blades pressed against a wall. Orbern eyed her, one brow arched as if to ask: well?

  All eyes swung to her. A few of Orbern’s men licked their lips as if eager to see her sliced from throat to crotch. ‘No,’ she said.

  Yusek confronted Orbern after the two visitors had left the hall to wait outside. ‘What are you doing?’ she demanded while he watched, pulling on one fat lip, as the mess that had been Waynar was hauled away. Fresh sawdust was thrown over the stained dirt floor. He returned to picking at the greasy bird carcass. ‘Well?’

  His tired gaze flicked to her. ‘You’re hardly really a member of this little community of ours, are you, Yusek? You take every excuse to range over the slopes for days on end. It’s as if you’ve just been waiting for an excuse to cut and run anyway.’

  She couldn’t find it in herself to deny any of what he said. ‘But with these two murderers? You saw what they did to Waynar! You just want to get me killed.’

  Orbern pushed aside the bones. ‘Yusek …’ He rubbed his brow, sighing. ‘Firstly, dear, Waynar asked for it. He challenged the Seguleh. So, lesson number one – do not challenge them! Now, secondly, contrary to what we all just saw, in their company you will be the safest you’ve been in years.’ He sat back, opening his hands. ‘Thirdly, almost everyone here is a murderer – since when has that been a problem for you? And lastly, frankly, it has been a royal pain in the arse keeping everyone off your arse this last year.’

  ‘If they can’t control themselves that’s their problem, not mine. They can go hump animals.’

  ‘Oh, don’t fool yourself – some do. Or each other. In any case, I agree, yes. Why women get blamed for men’s callousness and lack of respect for others is beyond me. But it becomes your problem when it’s you they’re attacking. Yes?’

  ‘I’ll kill anyone who tries that. They know that.’

  ‘So I’m down yet another man.’

  ‘It’s not my damn fault they’re arseholes!’

  He pulled savagely on his beard. ‘Yusek! The reason they’ve been driven out of all other towns and villages and families – any community of cooperative people – is because they are murderous, selfish, short-sighted, impulsive, cruel arseholes!’ He pointed to the door. ‘I’m doing you a favour.’

  She didn’t move. ‘I can take care of myself.’

  ‘The fact that you’re still alive proves that, Yusek. But the odds are stacking up. Eventually, you’ll disappear and Ezzen, or Dullet, will have a self-satisfied smirk on his face for a few days … and that would be the end of it.’

  Yusek lowered her chin. ‘I’m not asking you to do me any favours.’ She hated how sullen that sounded, but it was the truth.

  Orbern sighed again. ‘I know. But I am anyway. Osserc knows why. Must be my civilized conscience.’

  She went to pack the rest of her meagre belongings. Queen’s throw! I may as well just ditch ’em. She spotted Short-tall, out of the south, and raised her chin to him. ‘So who are these Segulath anyway?’

  ‘It’s Seguleh,’ he corrected her, then drew a slashing line across the air. ‘Swords, sweetmeat. Walking swords is what they are. Watch yourself or they’ll do you as they did Waynar.’

  She gave him a face, threw her tied bedroll over her shoulder.

  She found them waiting in the muddy garbage-strewn grounds that Orbern called the ‘Marshalling field’. A pack of gathered stores sat with them.

  The spokesman indicated it. ‘Carry this.’

  ‘I ain’t no one’s pack mule.’

  ‘None the less.’

  ‘No. You can fucking carry it.’

  Something whipped past her face – a silvery blur. Her bedroll fell from her shoulder into the mud, its rope tie cut. The man straightened, his cloak falling back into place.

  Yusek stared. How in the name of Togg did he do that? She raised her gaze to the painted mask and the eyes behind: these studied her, narrowed, as if gauging her reaction. It was not the swaggering superior look she was used to from all those who’d bested her in the past.

  She spat to one side – ‘Fine!’ – yanked up the pack, which was damned heavy, adjusted it on her back. ‘You do have a name … ?’

  The spokesman motioned for her to walk with him. The silent partner followed, hood still raised. As they approached the palisade door she spotted fat Orbern up on the catwalk. He waved for the solid log cross-piece to be pulled aside and the door pushed open. They exited into the woods with almost the entire crew of Orbern-town at the palisade watching them go.

  ‘My name is Sall,’ the spokesman said. Now, in the silence of the woods, he sounded rather young.

  Yusek jerked a thumb to the other. ‘And him?’

  Sall was silent for a time, perhaps searching for the right words. ‘In the rankings of the Seguleh I am of the Three Hundredth—’

  ‘Three hundredth what?’ she cut in.

  Again, he was silent for a while. The rain had let up and now the streams of run-off trickled across the track. Heavy drops pattered amid the woods. The morning’s mist was gone with the rain.

  ‘The Three Hundredth I refer to means among the Seguleh fighters,’ Sall said, his tone now quite icy. It seemed he wasn’t used to being interrupted.

  She eyed him sidelong. He’d raised his hood again. ‘So … you mean that you’re among the top three hundred fighters of all you Seguleh?’

  ‘Among all those who choose to pursue the rankings, yes. Not all need do so.’

  Among the three hundred best fighters of these Seguleh? Damn! She jerked her thumb to the other. ‘And him?’

  ‘Yusek’ – he spoke much more quietly now – ‘I can give you his name … but it will be of no use to you. You might address him but he will never speak to you. He is Lo. And he is Eighth.’

  Eighth? Like in eighth best of all of ’em? Burn’s embrace! And they’re out here in the middle of nowhere? ‘What’re you two doing here?’

  ‘As I said. We are looking for a monastery that is supposed to be somewhere here in these mountains.’

  Yusek snorted. Damned foolishness. Here she was guiding a couple of fanatics off to some temple so they could bow to some dusty piece of bone, or a sacred statue on a wall, or have a senile old man wave his hand over their heads. What a fucking waste of her time!

  She decided to ditch them right away.

  She simply didn’t stop walking. So far that tactic had never failed her. She’d lost everyone she’d ever walked away from. As the day progressed, sure enough they fell back just as everyone always did. Once they were far enough behind on the trail she shucked the pack from her shoulders, took the best of the dried staples and a skin of water, and just kept right on going without looking back. In fact, she decided to run.

  She made for an overhang she knew of, a kind of unofficial way-station along the trail. It was much further than an average day’s travel but she’d push on into the night.

  For all the rest of the day, into the long twilight of evening, until the light failed entirely and she couldn’t make out the track ahead, she saw no more sign of them. The combined light of the mottled moon and the ill-omened green night sky visitor allowed her to find the narrow path up the rocks to the overhang and here she crouched down on her hams, in the dirt and rotting leaves, and chewed on a strip
of dried venison. Her legs were trembling and numb, her chest aflame, but she’d made it. And she was rid of them. She was rid of them all! Fat Orbern, leering Ezzen, slow-witted Henst with his clumsy paws. She’d done it again! Shaken the useless dust from her heels. Just like her ma and pa that day in the worst stretch of the Dwelling Plain when it was them or her and damned if it was gonna be her!

  I’ll head for Mengal just as I’ve always wanted. Make a name for myself there. Must be plenty of opportunities for a girl like me … I’ll be—

  She stiffened, listening. Rocks were falling down on the trail. She slowly straightened, a hand going to the fighting knife at her hip, her heart thudding.

  The hooded and cloaked figure of Sall climbed up into the overhang. He brushed dirt from himself. He dropped the pack to the dry dust and leaves. She lowered her hand. I don’t fucking believe it!

  ‘A fair first day’s travel, Yusek.’ The hood rose as he peered about. ‘I approve. You may rest. I will take first watch.’

  Lo joined them, rising as silently as a ghost from the murk. He crossed to the rear of the overhang and sat without a word.

  ‘Who are you people …’ she breathed, awed despite herself.

  ‘We are the Seguleh, Yusek. And all these lands will soon come to know us again.’

  Spindle sat on a stone bench in the Circle of Faiths. It was a paved plaza in the Daru district that through the years, building by building and yard by yard, had been invaded then annexed by the worshippers of foreign, emerging, or even discredited religions. A sort of unofficial bazaar to any god, spirit or ascendant you’d care to name. Tall prayer sticks burned next to him as votive offerings to some obscure northern deity, possibly Barghast ancestor spirits. He waved the thick smoke from his face. Across the plaza a tiny stone building looking unnervingly like a sepulchre housed a priest of the new cult of the Shattered God. The man sat gabbling on to all who passed but was rather hard to understand, speaking as he was through broken teeth and a swollen jaw from the many beatings the local toughs meted out. Spindle had to hand it to the fellow, though. The man was undeterred. He even seemed to relish the extra challenge to his devotion and perseverance.